Critique of Carlos Mendoza and Rookie Usage

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You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, national average twelve month savings of nine hundred forty six dollars by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025? Potential savings will vary. But let me get to the guy I'm concerned about. Because so far, and hopefully I'm being fair here, not worried about Lindor, obviously not worried about Soto despite the bad app at in the 10th. I think Bo Bachette is showing signs of coming out of it. Polanco had that double before they pinch ran for him. Robert Jr. mostly has been good. Viento's too early to tell. How about Marcus Simeon ? Marcus Simeon, and we have to remind ourselves of this, and this is why I'm not panicking, right? I think I'd preface this episode with ah six games into the season. Okay, let's everybody take a deep breath. Panic City has n't arrived yet. But we do need to remind ourselves, Marcus Simeon has been declining the last few years . He has. He's been declining. He's not getting any younger . And so of all the guys on this roster who is an everyday player who they need production from, yeah, I'm a little worried about Marcus Simeon. A little bit. He's the first one. He took an O for how many? One, two, three, four. O for four. In the 11th inning, he comes up with the bases loaded, gets ahead of the count two and oh. I'm thinking, ah, this would be this would be the moment. This would be such a big moment for a guy who's done absolutely nothing in the five minutes he's been here, and he flies out the right field. Got a good pitch to hit, drove it decently, but not decently enough . Marcus Sime on has done nothing. He came into this game two for 18. He was 0 for 4. He's 2 for 22. And currently, Marcus Simeon is 0 for his last eighteen . And not only is he O for his last eighteen, think about the opportunities he had in those eighteen at bats . A lot of them comes up in the seventh with a guy on base, comes up in the ninth inning with a runner on third and two outs. He strikes out. He comes up with the bases loaded in the 11th, flies out. He ends up leaving six guys on base in this game. And that's just this game. Then you have Francisco Alvarez. I thought we saw bad Francisco Alvarez in this game. He is so freaking streaky, not even just his performance, but his approach. When he just starts sweating from his feet. I mean, Alvare z was all over the place. Terrible at bats. I mean, really, the best moment he had was getting on base with a catcher's interference. That was his best moment . But top to bottom, I mean, this is awful offensively. Now let me get to Mendy, because I do have a problem with Carlos Mendoza. And that's that's fair. Like, what's the problem, Evan? What do you got? Is it the bullpen usage? No. And if anything, Carlos Mendo za in this loss was vindicated. He was vindicated. Before I rip him, he was vindicated for the Dickie Love Lady thing. On episode 661, because we've been basically doing Rico's every day. I gotta slow down on that . I defended what Mendy did with Love Lady because Mendy's got bullets that he's being careful on how he uses. And he wanted in game three of this series a rubber game with his ace on the mound, all his bullets available. Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Was gar Brasbon, Brooks . He wants them all available. And he had them. And those bullets, let's be honest, I'll get to them in a little bit, they all fired off beautifully. Wasn't their fault this they lost this game, wasn't their fault the LD offense has showed up. That ain't on them. So Mendy's decision, some of you like to call it punting. I don't. I like to call it, you know, you're being strategic with how you use your guys. And it sucks. My biggest problem is that Dickie Love Lady's on the team. Not that Mendy used him. But he gets vindic ated on his bullpen usage because he has this cavalcade of arms he can use at his disposal in a close game. It happened to go 11 . But my problem with Carlos Mendoza was the situation he put Carson Benge in in the seventh inning of this game. Getting everyone together to watch the game is fun until you realize you're running low on snacks right before halftime. That's why shipped is there for you on game day. 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Download the app or order at shipped.com. That's s h Ip . com . Carson Benge is a rookie . And at times he looks a little overwhelmed. He doesn't look fully ready. Now, that doesn't mean I'm sending him down. That doesn't mean I'm giving up on him. But let's be honest. Like he has his home run uh on opening day. That was great. That was a great moment for him. He's had a couple of base hits. He's played mostly good defense in the outfield till the eleventh. We'll get to that . But I would think that the Mets are still trying to protect him just a little bit. Just a little bit . So when Matthew Liberator is on the mound, they don't play him. Now why didn't Carson Benge start this game? He didn't start this game because they didn't want to put him out there against the tough lefty. Is that why he didn't start the game? That's why he didn't start the game. So Tyrone Taylor, who hasn't played at all this season, but we know Tyrone Taylor, he's a capable major leaguer. He goes 0 for 2. In the seventh inning, after Francisco Alvarez gets on with catcher's interference , Carlos Mendoza in a spot in which I know and you know he's got Jojo Romero warming up in the bullpen, who's actually a capable reliever who's really tough on lefties? He's warming up. Why is he warming up? Is he warming up because Carlos Mendoza played a horrible game of chess in which instead of letting Tyrone Taylor hit against Ryan Stannick, who I felt like in my bones, we'll hit this guy. Well, you weren't able to do it the other day, but man, I feel they'll eventually get to Ryan Stanick because he's Ryan static . You make a decision that not only allows Marmal to take out his worst reliever, but you put this kid who, if we're being fair, doesn't look a thousand percent ready in this small sample size. Again, not saying I'm sending him down. I'm just being honest with what we've seen. You put him in a spot to face JoJo Romero ? But you didn't want him to face Liberator to start the game, which I agree with . On episode six, six, one of the Rico, I told you how I would have lined it up. I had one slight difference. I probably would have played Beatty over Tyrone Taylor and Rice. But you know what? I get that. I get why Tyrone Taylor needs to play. You gotta get him some at . But pinch hitting for him in the seventh inning was stupid. Let's just call like it is . It was dumb. Because I'll ask you, I'll ask the audience, and I'm sure there's a lot of Yankee fans who are drinking our second series of the year tears. So I'll ask the IBO out there, and of course the Met fan. What's a better matchup for the New York Mets? Tyrone Taylor, professional major leaguer against Ryan Stanick, who is due to implode . Or Jo Jo Romero, who holds lefties to like a 520 OPS against Carson Bench, who's a rookie who you've avoided having to face too many lefties. And the reason you sat him to begin with is because a lefty was on the mount . It was stupid. It's called like it is. It was a bad move by Mendy. For everyone bitching and whining about his usage of Dickie Love Lady . There was a reason for it. What was the reason for this ? And then what what happened? What do you think happened ? Carsten Benz looked awful. It was it was dumb sending him out there. And look, Carson Ben struck out. You want to blame him? Blame him. I mean, again, he's at his moments where he doesn't look great. He comes up again in the 10th inning against the lefty, pops up the shortstop, and then obviously what happened in the 11th inning just sucked. He had a terrible read on that pop-up. This game should have gone to the 12th. So Carson Benjamin's going through his rookie struggles. Don't make it more difficult for him . Don't use him as a pinch hitter in a situation in which everybody knows. We all know they're going to a lefty . See, this is the only thing that's making me scream. I've been very calm today. That's probably surprising, Hoff, right? You probably thought it